The history of india

The history of India is one of the grand epics of world history and can be best described in the words of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as "a bundle of contradictions held together by strong but invisible threads". Indian history can be characterized as a work in progress, a continuous process of reinvention that can eventually prove elusive for those seeking to grasp its essential character. The history of this astonishing sub continent dates back to almost 75000 years ago with the evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens. The Indus Valley Civilization which thrived in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from 3300- 1300 BCE was the first major civilization in India.

Independence and partition (1947-present)

Along with the desire for independence, tensions between Hindus and Muslims had also been developing over the years. The Muslims had always been a minority within the subcontinent, and the prospect of an exclusively Hindu government made them wary of independence; they were as inclined to mistrust Hindu rule as they were to resist the foreign Raj, although Gandhi called for unity between the two groups in an astonishing display of leadership. The British, extremely weakened by the Second World War, promised that they would leave and participated in the formation of an interim government. The British Indian territories gained independence in 1947, after being partitioned into the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. Following the controversial division of pre-partition Punjab and Bengal, rioting broke out between Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims in these provinces and spread to several other parts of India, leaving some 500,000 dead.[136] Also, this period saw one of the largest mass migrations ever recorded in modern history, with a total of 12 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims moving between the newly created nations of India and Pakistan (which gained independence on 15 and 14 August 1947 respectively).[136] In 1971, Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan and East Bengal, seceded from Pakistan.

FAMOUS PERSON OF INDIA-Mahatma gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 2 October 1869 30 January 1948 was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in Britishruled India. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahatma is now used worldwide. He is also called Bapu (Gujarati: endearment for "father","papa") in India. Born and raised in a Hindu, merchant caste, family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, but above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule. Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 m) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. Gandhi attempted to practise nonviolence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand spun on

a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and social protest. Gandhi's vision of a free India based on religious pluralism, however, was challenged in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a separate Muslim homeland carved out of India. Eventually, in August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire[6] was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan. As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab and Bengal. Eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to promote religious harmony. The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 at age 78, also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating. Among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest at point-blank range. Gandhi is commonly, though not officially, considered the Father of the Nation in India. His birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and world-wide as the International Day of Nonviolence.

THE CURRENCY OF INDIA

The history of the rupees traces back to Ancient India in circa 6th century BC. Ancient India was one of the earliest issuers of coins in the world, along with the Chinese wen and Lydian staters. The word rpiya is alleged to be derived from a Dravidian word rpa, which means "wrought silver, a coin of silver", in origin an adjective meaning "shapely", with a more specific meaning of "stamped, impressed", whence "coin". It is derived from the noun rpa "shape, likeness, image". The word rpa is being further identified as having sprung from the Dravidian. However, an Indo-Aryan origin is more likely compare Sanskrit rp, n.,m. A form, beauty (Rigveda), rpaka adjective and n.,m. A particular coin Pacatantra, rpya,*rpiya -, adj. beautiful, bearing a stamp Pini., n. silver Mahabharata. There is no evidence of transmission to Indo-Aryan from Dravidian and textual evidence dates to well before any references in the later Dravidian. Arthashastra, written by Chanakya, prime minister to the first Maurya emperor Chandragupta Maurya(c. 340-290 BCE), mentions silver coins as rupyarupa, other types including gold coins (Suvarnarupa), copper coins ( Tamararupa) and lead coins (Sisarupa) are mentioned. Rupa means form or shape, example, Rupyarupa, Rupya - wrought silver, rupa form. Sher Shah Suri, during his five year rule from 1540 to 1545, set up a new civic and military administration and issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains, which was termed the Rupiya. The silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, Maratha era as well as in British India. Among the earliest issues of paper rupees include the Bank of Hindostan (1770 1832), the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1773 75, established by Warren Hastings), and the Bengal Bank (178491). The Indian rupee was a silver-based currency during much of the 19th century, which had severe consequences on the standard value of the currency, as stronger economies were on the gold standard. During British rule, and the first decade of independence, the rupee was subdivided into 16 annas. Each anna was subdivided into either 4 paisas or 12 pies. So one rupee was equal to 16 annas, 64 paises of 192 pies. In 1957, decimalisation occurred and the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise (Hindi/Urdu for new paisas). After a few years, the initial "naye" was dropped. For many years in the early and mid-20th century, the Indian rupee was the official currency in several areas that were controlled by the British and governed from India; areas such as East Africa, Southern Arabia and the Persian Gulf.

Demographics of India
Population 1,220,800,358 (2013 est.) (2nd)

Growth rate 1.51% (2009 est.) (93rd) Birth rate 20.22 births/1,000 population (2013 est.)

Death rate 7.4 deaths/1,000 population (2013 est.) Life expectancy male female 68.89 years est.)

67.46 years (2009 est.) 72.61 years (2009 est.) 2.5 children born/woman (SRS 2010)[1] (82nd) 30.15 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Fertility rate

Infant mortality rate Age structure 014 years

31.1% (male 190,075,426/female 172,799,553) (2009 est.)

1564 years 63.6% (male 381,446,079/female 359,802,209) (2009 est.) 65 and over 5.3% (male 29,364,920/female 32,591,030) (2009 est.) Sex ratio At birth Under 15 1.12 male(s)/female (2009 est.) 1.10 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

1564 years 1.06 male(s)/female (2009 est.) 65 and over 0.90 male(s)/female (2009 est.)